Columns

FRANKFORT – There were several Interim Joint Committee meetings this past week, including a Special Subcommittee on Energy that focused on Kentucky’s struggling coal industry and the adverse impact of impending federal regulations. The decline in coal production that could result from these regulations is not just an Eastern Kentucky issue, but a serious statewide issue, as well.

FRANKFORT – The past couple of weeks have been busy in and around Frankfort with joint committee meetings on a wide range of issues including the DOD’s planned forced brigade reduction at Ft. Knox, the possible ways to help SNAP recipients better balance their food budgets, and the impact of impending federal regulations on coal.

You can often see it in their eyes, if you take the time to look: That far away gaze tells you they are somewhere else---maybe in the future or the past but not the present.

Or sometimes their eyes dart this way and that, like those of a trapped animal searching for an escape route.

And if you have occasion to be with them for very long, you’ll notice a restlessness---an inability to move forward with any kind of fruitfulness---even though they might exhibit workaholic tendencies or conversely, extreme lethargy.

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances.”

- William Shakespeare

It was a sad day at the Opera House this past week with the departure of Mrs. Jan Fattizzi. Jan is handling over the reigns as the Central Kentucky Community Theatre Director and heads to her next job in Florida.

True creative genius is seldom appreciated and sometimes flashes of brilliance can be blinding to all around you. Why just the other day I had such an occurrence when I hollered for Cindy.
"Cindy, come here, come here, come here!"
"What now?"
"I just had a flash of brilliance and know how to get filthy rich."
"Really, well that's great. I'm going back to watch television."
"Don't you want to hear my idea?????"
"Not really, I rate your "get rich" ideas up there somewhere with the last reported sighting of aliens and Elvis."
"That's your problem. You never take me seriously."

Maybe it’s a part of the yearning for a slower, simpler world, a less digitized world when others--- including the National Security Agency---didn’t have instant access to our privacy. Or perhaps it’s more a desire to touch and embrace an older vehicle for communicating.

It could be both.

I’m referring to the return of the typewriter.

Even high school students are learning the joys and frustrations of tap tap tapping away on what many consider an anachronistic way of communicating.

On July 3, 1863 – 150 years ago today - General Robert E. Lee ordered 12,500 Confederate troops to attack the center of the Union Army line at the Battle of Gettysburg. The assault was a disaster and the ill-conceived attack ensured a Union victory. A man of strong character, Lee accepted total responsibility for the defeat. Had the battle gone differently, the map of the United States might look much different today.

About 23 years ago, I was sitting as an active duty senior sergeant at a commander’s conference at the 125th Army Reserve Command. We were being addressed by who was then the 2nd Army commander. He was a three-star general, commanding about a quarter million men and women in the Regular Army, Army National Guard and the Army Reserve.

The Berlin Wall had recently fallen. The Cold War with communism was ending.